Very Fine, in Rare and Very Fine Jacket

PEER GYNT: A DRAMATIC POEM.

(London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1936). 260 x 197 mm. (10 1/4 x 7 3/4"). 255, [3] pp. First (British) Printing of this Edition.

Original publisher's linen boards, original pictorial dust jacket. With 12 COLOR PLATES (including frontispiece) BY ARTHUR RACKHAM, all protected by tissue guards with descriptive letterpress. Latimore & Haskell, p. 74. ◆Dust jacket with tiny chip out of bottom edge of back panel and two very minor closed tears at bottom of front panel, a little chafing at folds, but still A VERY FINE COPY IN A FINE JACKET.

This is an especially well-preserved copy of the first British trade edition (appearing the same year as a British limited edition and an American trade edition) of Rackham's "Peer Gynt," written by Ibsen in 1867. The translator here, R. Farquharson Sharp (1864-1945), says that his translation is an improvement over former ones because he has refused the temptation of retaining the rhymed verse of the original. He has instead chosen unrhymed verse in Ibsen's original meter in an attempt to capture the original, literal meaning. Rackham's accomplished full-page color illustrations here are the confident work of a mature artist approaching his 70th year.
(ST11062)

Price: $1,600.00